It’s great to cheer for protestors who are fighting for democracy in Iran (and they appear to be fighting for their lives as well), but the sad truth is that each of the four candidates in Iran’s race are heavily involved in corrupt, often murderous government activities. Wikipedia has this to say about Mousavi:
Mousavi’s socialist ideology became very apparent during the 1980s when he initiated Islamic Socialist policies such as subsidized food coupons, oil coupons and converting private enterprises into government controlled entities. Mr. Mousavi ordered the mass-executions of 1980-81, as well as the summer 1988 executions of over 30,000 political prisoners, who were then buried in mass graves.
This is an internal political fight about which corrupt dictator controls Iran. It is not a revolution which will magically produce Western-style freedom and democracy.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I wish the protestors all the success in the world in their fight against the horrific government anti-riot squads who appear to be shooting up student dorms. And Mousavi has promised* to free up the media and reduce electoral corruption, so he might be a less bad dictator than Ahmadinejad. But I’m certainly skeptical of the leadership figures that the protestors are fighting for, and that Western commentators have started rooting for.
Mousavi might be better than Ahmadinejad – but I’ll believe it when I see it.
* Do we really think his promises can be believed any more than (insert local politician here)?
